vjgrey
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Posts posted by vjgrey
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I hope Gabe keeps improving on the Previcox. I'm really not familiar with this medication - sounds like it's another nsaid?
Thanks. Yeah, it's an nsaid we're trying after going through Rimadyl and Deramaxx. I don't know that it'll be any better, and I've read that some dogs don't do well on it, but at this point, I'm willing to try whatever the oncologist thinks may help.
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He's had extra Tramadol and Gabapentin, and he's still limping but is much more himself. While I was finishing up some work, he stole a bag of dehydrated chicken out of the cabinet, chewed a hole in it and ate all of it. And the oncologist wonders why he's gaining weight.
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I hate to see another hound returned because the adopter had kids, especially after something as minor (to me) as a warning growl. But having just read a blog post from a woman who had her (non-grey) put to sleep three hours after he nipped (did not break skin) her daughter, I think this decision really is best.
Since the OP seems unwilling to separate/supervise, the outcome could've been much, much worse for Timmy.
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Does anyone know how long it takes Previcox to "kick in?" Gabe is having a hellish morning. He couldn't get up on his own and needed a lot of help to walk. This is is first day on the new med, having been off Deramaxx since Wednesday. We've been giving him extra Tramadol, but it's clearly not enough.
He absolutely can't continue on like this. It's not fair to him. Desperately hoping that the new med works miracles.
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Symbra was feeling feisty today - she met me at the door when I got home and was playing with a stuffie and trying to figure out how to play bow and sphinx with just the one rear leg. I took the toy from her and she jumped for it. She was a little unsteady with that, so I let her have her toy and get her bearings.
We went for a short walk a little later - here she is, three weeks to the day after her amputation:
This really made me smile. She looks great! It always amazes me how well they get around as tripods.
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The bones don't exactly go "soft," in mine. More like super dry and crumbly. They kind of turn into powder when I mash them with a fork.
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Dino
in Remembrance
I'm so, so sorry. And so very angry at this horrible disease.
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So pleased to hear Toby is doing well!
Gabe has had five chemo treatments now, and we haven't seen any nausea, loss of appetite, etc. In fact, Gabe was suckering us into giving him TOO many treats and was gaining weight.
Since the third or fourth treatment, he has been VERY tired after. It's taken him a few days after each for his energy levels to rebound.
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I've been amazed at how well it's worked for my hounds. We probably brush two/three times a week and use the spray two times a week. They also get bully sticks once a week, which I think helps chip the loose plaque off. We get ours from Pet Edge - $36 for the big bottle, which we've had for a few months.
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We do this once a week for our hounds. I just drop the whole chicken in and set on low. (Very) long-term low heat is the key, definitely not high heat. Sometimes it takes a little more than 24 hours, sometimes slightly less. I fish the bones out and mash them with a fork and then smoosh the whole pot with a potato masher just to be sure. Mix in a little rice, and that's our "canned" kibble topper for the week.
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He perked up a bit after the pamindronate and was catching stuffies DH tossed to him last night.
:wub: He hasn't done that in months. Today is slightly rockier, although that may be because we're weaning him off Deramaxx to switch to Previcox. His oncologist recommended that he be off Deramaxx for two days before we start the new med.
Yeah, that's why we didn't make that switch although we considered it for the same reasons. In the end, I didn't think she'd be comfortable weaned off and we couldn't switch cold turkey because of the kidney issue. Can you increase his other meds during the transition?
Yeah, I've given him slightly more Tramadol, which seems to be making him really sleepy, but at least he's resting.
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He perked up a bit after the pamindronate and was catching stuffies DH tossed to him last night.
:wub: He hasn't done that in months. Today is slightly rockier, although that may be because we're weaning him off Deramaxx to switch to Previcox. His oncologist recommended that he be off Deramaxx for two days before we start the new med.
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From the start he has been a dominant dog. He growled at us and my family members in the beginning when we came near him when he was eating, if we took away his bone, etc. That all resolved though after we established ourselves as alpha.
We're starting to think that this is just Timmy's personality- that he is very dominant, pack oriented.
I don't have kids (and have no plans to have any), so others can give you much better advice on that.
I did want to say, though, that what you've described is NOT a sign of a "dominant dog." It's fairly normal, expected behavior for a greyhound who's just learning what it means to be in a home. It's a very different life than they're used to, and it can take some hounds time to learn/adjust (and the process is helped by using "trade up," techniques, etc... rather than just trying to take his bone).
This article may be helpful.
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Apparently Amantadine is fairly new. But according to that article it's not recommended (or a decreased dose is recommended) for dogs with compromised kidneys, so we may have to back off/stop that one.
He is a big boy - 88 pounds this morning, which is fairly heavy for him (although you can still see ribs). It sounds like we still have some room to up the meds.
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Thank you, Jen. It didn't depress me (any more than I'm already depressed), and it does help just to know it's not just me. With all of the ups and downs, I feel like a crazy person half the time. While I'm really sorry that you've been through this to know what it feels like, it makes me feel a lot less crazy, which is nice.
He has had two amazing rebounds, but what worries me is that both were the result of radiation treatments. While we can try that again in an emergency, both the radiologist and our oncologist feel like we're approaching the point where there's more risk than benefit in it. His last x-rays showed some weakening of the bone without significant tumor progression, so they think that may be a result of the radiation.
I need to speak to our oncologist about how high we can go on his meds. He's currently on 900mg Gabapentin (300 x 3), 200mg Amantadine, 100 mg Deramaxx (changing that this week, though), and we're upping him to 300mg of Tramadol (100 x 3).
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The thought that he might wag his tail when we pull out the leash for "that," car ride makes me want to just curl up and die.
My vet came to my house for Twister. She had lymphoma but ultimately the kidney failure is what got her. When the vet and vet tech came to the door she got up and greeted them with a wag and some special Twistie kisses. I almost fell into a sobbing heap right there. Luckily my vet recognized this and moved us all quickly into the living room where I had set up her favorite bed in a ray of sunshine. The vet told me again that I was doing the best thing that I could do for my Twistmas. I was able to hold it together until she passed, then I totally fell apart.
If you have had a loved one who struggled with pain and anxiety during their final days or weeks; you likely had the thought "I wish there was some way I could spare my loved one this agony". For me it was my mother. Her last 9 days were painful and the cancer had invaded her brain so she wasn't able to communicate. She went from being able to tell stories and to ask for pain meds to speaking gibberish in about 36 hours. I wish so much that I could have spared her that pain and indignity.
We have the ability to do that for our furry loved ones. With Twister, I tried to remember how much I wanted to spare my Mom the agony of her terminal disease. I can't say that it helped with my overwhelming sadness at losing her, but it did help me make the decision to euthanize her.
Jane
This is so, so helpful. Thank you.
If the med change/pamindronate can make him more comfortable, I think he still has some fight in him, but if not, I'll try to keep this in mind. He deserves to go peacefully.
I'll also look into having someone come to our home. That would be calmer for all of us, I think.
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Thank you for the hugs/advice/positive thoughts. I don't know what I'd do without this outlet.
The pain management is really my biggest concern right now. He's not quite limping but definitely not walking normally, and I'm worried about how fast that may go downhill. Both times he's actually limped, it's turned into almost total lameness and obvious, visible pain, literally overnight. Both nights were horrible experiences for all of us, and I do not want to let it get to that point ever again. And since he has osteo in front and back limbs, standing off one puts more pressure on the other, which also makes me worry about a fracture.
It's hard, though, because otherwise, he's pretty normal - a little lethargic (which I've tended to think was because he just had his fifth chemo) - but still eating well, begging for treats, and wagging his tail when we pull out the leash.
It seems like if we don't want to let him reach the lows he's hit twice now (total lameness, clearly horrible pain), then we're going to have to let him go while he is still basically "normal." And somehow that seems so much harder and uglier, even though I know this is a disease we can't beat.
Does that make any sense? The thought that he might wag his tail when we pull out the leash for "that," car ride makes me want to just curl up and die.
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Lots of good thoughts for Powder, who has one of the sweetest faces I've ever seen.
Please keep us updated.
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I could use some prayers/positive thoughts for Gabe. He's still showing pain and is struggling more to get up. We're going to increase his tramadol and change his Deramaxx to...can't remember. Something else. So I hope that'll help.
He's also showing signs of compromised kidneys. Our oncologist initially disagreed with that assessment (made by our radiologist), but now he sees it, too.
The oncologist thinks that, at this point, the need to control the pain outweighs the need to maintain his kidneys, so we're going ahead with the pamindronate. But he said we should start watching him carefully for signs of kidney failure.
Last night, DH and I had a very hard discussion. We're not at the point yet that we really need to let him go, but I feel we're headed there much faster than I'm prepared for.
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Personally, I would not leave a hound alone with a Bully Stick. They can be a choking hazard.
Others have covered the main issue well, but I wanted to say ditto to this. My hounds LOVE bully sticks and get them once a week but only when I'm there to supervise.
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Glad to hear the Gia is up and moving around and that Pinky is good for treatment!
Yesterday was a really stressful day for us. On top of the X-ray/pain worries, I got an awful scare when I picked him up. The receptionist had given me his daily medical records, and I was thumbing through them as she checked us out and scheduled next week's appointment. They included a report from the radiologist who looked at his X-rays. There was a comment at the end that was full of medical jargon and then concluded with something like "I presume this is a new site." When the vet tech came out to bring Gabe to me, I asked her what it meant. She frowned at it and said "Well....he's saying there's a new Osteo site."
That was icing on top of an already stressful day, and when she saw I was almost in tears, she offered to go see if our oncologist was available to speak to me. She came back, saying "He definitely wants to speak to you."
Which terrified me even more.
When he came out, he immediately said "Oh, I'm SO sorry to worry you...It's all just a mistake."
Turns out, the radiologist who saw yesterday's x-rays didn't know anything about Gabe's history and only had his second set of X-rays to compare. His second set only included his back leg, since he'd been conclusively diagnosed with Osteo in his front leg less than a week before. When he saw the huge tumor on yesterday's front x-ray, he assumed it must be a new site. The oncologist just dismissed is comments, thinking "Well, of COURSE we know there's an Osteo site on his front leg - there's a big, visible tumor." It didn't occur to him that the report would be printed for me and that I would (naturally) assume "new site," meant...a new site.
I burst into tears of relief right there in the waiting room. He was very kind.
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Gabe was on Rimadyl for his Osteo (now switched to Deramaxx), and his oncologist recommended one Pepcid a day to stave off GI effects. He hasn't had any issues.
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I'm so sorry you lost your sweet boy.
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He's having radiology take a second look at the x-ray, but so far, it looks like it's not as bad as we feared. He said he sees no signs of fracture/impending fracture, and the tumor looks relatively the same. The bad news is that, while he's walking on the leg (toe touching but no limp), he's showing a pretty significant pain reaction when handled.
We're going to go ahead with chemo and discuss upping/changing his pain meds.
It's so very, very hard to know where the line is - knowing whether he needs to keep fighting or whether he's just had enough.
Osteo Thread
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
He had another rough morning but did a lot better after his second dose of tramadol kicked in. I hope that means once the NSAID is in full force we'll see some improvement.
No treat stealing today, but the "24 hour chicken" I have in the crockpot is driving him crazy.
Thanks for asking about him.